Charity Shield 2018

[Overseas dragon]

But he's excellent at using 3/4's of the bench.

Straight Shooter

Yes MARYS very good at not using approximately 1040 !minutes of bench time ...

 

[dragonssamy61]

With you get smarty.

Only comment I would add was when Sele came on he stopped the rabbits running through our middle. They scored in the 46minute and that was the end of the story for them. We did tighten up the middle.

Note also that we missed four tries, whilst the rabbits scored each possible try.

My takeout is that the ingredients are there, we need the chef(Coach) to mix them together.

Couldn't agree more redv
Sele did well.
We will miss tommo more than first thought.
Luc needs a massive improvement before he is nrl ready.
I thought LAM also did well.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Yep...Our biggest negative is the guy sitting in the coaches box.............

Smarty
You would think Mary would be able to teach the centres and outside back how to defend.
Considering he was a great centre
As has been proven many a time before.
The great olayer don't always become great coaches

 

[Gareth67]

Smarty
You would think Mary would be able to teach the centres and outside back how to defend.
Considering he was a great centre
As has been proven many a time before.
The great olayer don't always become great coaches

By gad - are you right there ! I don't intend to go through yet another season of his ineptitude , no bluudy way . If things don't improve in the first few rounds , I will sell the farm and move up to Brisbane and follow the donkeys .

 

[MaryMcGregor]

True, I was a great player.

And Euan will be a great coach.

 

[dragonssamy61]

By gad - are you right there ! I don't intend to go through yet another season of his ineptitude , no bluudy way . If things don't improve in the first few rounds , I will sell the farm and move up to Brisbane and follow the donkeys .

Gareth
Ethal will have you balls for garters.
Lol.
Things are never that bad.
To support the broncos

 

[Eatons Hill Dragon]

By gad - are you right there ! I don't intend to go through yet another season of his ineptitude , no bluudy way . If things don't improve in the first few rounds , I will sell the farm and move up to Brisbane and follow the donkeys .

Gareth, that's 10 in the bin for you for even thinking about the Donkeys mate.

 

[Gareth67]

Gareth
Ethal will have you balls for garters.
Lol.
Thinks are never that bad.
To support the broncos

dragonsammy61 and Eaton Hills Dragon - forgive me gentlemen, it was a moment of weakness , after all of these decades I supporting the team , Mary had me thinking weird thoughts . I can now understand the pressure that the players themselves must be under.
No , I will always been a one club man and shall continue to be , as you both realise , if you have red and white blood flowing in your veins you are forever a Dragon .

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

By gad - are you right there ! I don't intend to go through yet another season of his ineptitude , no bluudy way . If things don't improve in the first few rounds , I will sell the farm and move up to Brisbane and follow the donkeys .

Now l know things can get tough mate but nothing should bring you to follow the donkeys.

Stop short and stay here on the Gold Coast and keep following the team with the big red V !!!!!!!

 

[Alec's-saints]

By gad - are you right there ! I don't intend to go through yet another season of his ineptitude , no bluudy way . If things don't improve in the first few rounds , I will sell the farm and move up to Brisbane and follow the donkeys .

stop being a goose mate. you support this great club regardless of the situation. its been a rough 6 years but our time will come.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Maybe that’s half the problem.

With Mary, the players are probably too comfortable.

We needed a coach and players to have a ‘must win’ attitude.
For McGregor to say, ‘it’s only a trail’ is bullsh@t.

Mentally and attitude...... that’s what we need changing.

Melbourne would not be happy with the result, neither should we.

It should be the same every time they pull on the big Red V.
I find it hard to fathom as to where the optimism emanates from.
Mann starting on the bench - again..
Aitkin plays the same way he always has - no improvement whatsoever..
No Kerr, no Robson
Same old Widdop and Hunt definitely an upgrade on McCrone.
But any improvement is canceled out by the loss of Thommo and our defence sucks big time and Reynolds wasn't even playing.
I love watching Dufty with ball in hand but his defense is atrocious.
I just hope his attacking flair compensates for the tries we will concede.
Finally, there is no real competition for positions.
Lomax and Mann must play in the backline somewhere.
Selections are so predictable and it's only human nature that the players get comfortable when they know they will be selected regardless of performance.
It has the smell of a middle of the table finish...again

 

[Brutalitops]

It's such a strange feeling to have two halves. For the last 2 seasons my eyes have always gravitated towards Widdop to see what would happen but now I have another playmaker to look out for.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

That is exactly the problem OKB1 , mentality and attitude. Mary just can not get those 2 qualities into the players , try as he may he will never be able to do it . There are times when I get the impression that they are confused as to what to do next .

And we are not speaking about a kiddies team , but a professional team of 1st graders . That is how Marys coaching has managed to turn them , merely bumbling along from one hiccup to another - hell, it is so infuriating !

To me, the coach sets the example and the players mimic his thoughts.

If the coach can’t be arsed to win a trial, why should the players?

Millward should chew McGregor out for not forcing the point about wanting to win a shield that we have lost for how many years?

 

[dragonssamy61]

dragonsammy61 and Eaton Hills Dragon - forgive me gentlemen, it was a moment of weakness , after all of these decades I supporting the team , Mary had me thinking weird thoughts . I can now understand the pressure that the players themselves must be under.
No , I will always been a one club man and shall continue to be , as you both realise , if you have red and white blood flowing in your veins you are forever a Dragon .

Gareth
Its called Maryits.
Only one way to solve it.
But marys still there and we can all get it.
Lol

 

[Gareth67]

To me, the coach sets the example and the players mimic his thoughts.

If the coach can’t be arsed to win a trial, why should the players?

Millward should chew McGregor out for not forcing the point about wanting to win a shield that we have lost for how many years?

Totally agree OKB 1 , I recall that there was a lot of pride not that many years ago as to which team held the Charity Shield , bragging rights , call it what you want - but more so to the Hospital where the money would go to whether that be South Sydney or St.George hospital .

Still I know that I have been rather negative in my reaction to last nights match , but until a ball is kicked in the premiership proper , the Dragons can still surprise a lot of people , they just need to get a winning formula going and take it from there .

 

[Gareth67]

Gareth
Its called Maryits.
Only one way to solve it.
But marys still there and we can all get it.
Lol

Thank goodness for that Sammy , as Ethel was worried there for a bit . After blowing yet another mouthful of Camel cigarette smoke into my face , she said that if I wasn't any better by morning that she would call the doctor !

 

[SaintPauli]

Lomax should start Against Broncs. CENTER
Simms should start against Broncos

Get down to kogarah 1st game against the broncs and support our RedV. We need a big crowd to start on the right foot.

 

[getsmarty]

Smarty
You would think Mary would be able to teach the centres and outside back how to defend.
Considering he was a great centre
As has been proven many a time before.
The great olayer don't always become great coaches

Well said...Hard to believe isn't it...someone who many of us enjoyed watching him play, now many of us find hard to stomach in terms of coaching tactics.His tactics make it look like he only has a limited knowledge of the game.....

 

[getsmarty]

McGregor concerned by fragility in the middle

• 
  Mitch Jennings

Local Sport

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Dragons coach Paul McGregor. Picture: John Veage

THEY’VE produced two solid preseason outings, but St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor says his side will need to address defensive deficiencies in the ruck ahead of their season-opener against against Brisbane.

The Dragons edged out Hull 24-18 in their first hit-out last week before going down 22-18 in Saturday’s Charity Shield clash at Mudgee.

McGregor found little cause for concern despite the scoreboard, but Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook did give his former Illawarra Cutters coach something to think about ahead of round one.

Cook all but assured he’ll get the nod as Rabbitohs No. 9 after exposing the Dragons from dummy-half while Cody Walker also found some joy through the middle.

McGregor said it will be top of his list ahead of next Thursday’s road trip to Suncorp Stadium.

“The big lesson was that they were a little bit more physical than we were and dominated the play-the-ball area a lot quicker than we did,” McGregor said.

“Cooky’s good at it. They got us around that scrum-line where they generated a [quick] play-the-ball and took that short-side on a couple of times and got some metres on us.

“We’ve definitely got to be more physical in our transition in our tackle and get off our line to bang and make the collision initially. We can generate line-speed from that.

“We’ve got to be physically more dominant as a side come round one. That’s what we’ve really got to work on the next 10 days.”

Saturday saw another encouraging performance from the club’s new-look spine with Matt Dufty again proving a stand-out at the back.

“He’s certainly causing the opposition some grief with his speed and he’s getting a better tactical understanding,” McGregor said.

“Our halves played 80 minutes with Duft at the back which was nice.

“That combination will grow with Gareth [Widdop] and Benny [Hunt] over time.

“It’s nice to have that extra threat because of his speed and his ball-playing ability.

“At times we used it too much so we’ve still got to get that balance of our power and our shift right and execute our finishes a little bit better.”


http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5248953/brittle-ruck-a-concern-for-mcgregor/?cs=302

 

[Dorsai]

I would be the first to agree that Nightingale is not as quick as he used to be. Of the tries that he didn’t score in the game, the dropped ball was really the only one you would normally say he would score 9 out of 10 times. Looking at the others I think there are grounds there that would have stopped most any winger.

He is though, the best finisher we have, regardless of age. Frankly, and I know this will upset the Mann supporters, he is still better at this point in his career than Mann is in his. He is a class finisher. You could count on one hand the number of bad games he has turned in for us over the years. He gives 110% for 80 minutes of every game.

There alot of guilt to share round Saturday night.